Surveillance cameras watching over the parking lot at Belmont Park have been up and running for two years now and have already helped police nab at least one vehicle prowler that plagued the area for several weeks in 2008.

Police used footage to connect the alleged prowler, identified by police as 48-year-old Pacific Beach resident Jonathon Clark, to 14 alleged vehicle prowling incidents. When police pulled him over in October of 2008, he reportedly had with him stolen items, said Northern Division Capt. Shelley Zimmerman.

One of Clark’s tactics included following local surfers and stealing keys that they buried in the sand to hide. He allegedly unlocked the vehicles and took property and then reburied or replaced the keys, giving him time to escape before the owner noticed.

“[The arrest] was a direct result of the cameras,” Zimmerman said. “[Cameras] are a force multiplier…it gives us more eyes.”

With cameras in five spots around Belmont Park and parts of Mission Beach, police have eyes in the sky.

Police and government officials unveiled the system about two years ago as a security measure to deter beach area assaults and other crime. Signs posted near the monitored areas let potential rule-breakers know that someone may be watching. As a result, Zimmerman said, calls for service have been slightly reduced within a mile of the cameras.

And other than the occasional routine maintenance to keep them clean from beach air and wind erosion, the cameras seem to be working fine.

With one light duty officer staffing the cameras in an undisclosed location, police often have instant visual confirmation if something significant occurs near Mission Beach.

If an officer is unable to staff the camera system, the video records on a five-day loop so officers can go back and review footage. That’s how police caught Clark.

The camera system cost about $110,000, with the Department of Park and Recreation putting up about $80,000 and approximately $30,000 coming from private donations, according to published reports in the Beach & Bay Press.

Similar monitoring systems, both private and public, have been up and running throughout the city for several years now. Police and city officials installed cameras in the Mid-city area about a year before the beach area cameras.

Zimmerman said there have been talks about installing a citywide surveillance system.